... and just who IS this character, you ask? Here's a big clue. Among the props are pillows, hat boxes, and shopping bags.

The couch was a flea market find (you can see the 'Before' picture here), which I painted, gave a cushion (quilted material that was folded and glued -- no sewing!), and added white lace.

Since this character lives in the Little Paris section of her town, I was pleased that amongst my material stash was a both a picture of the Eiffel Tower AND some sheer fleur-de-lis fabric.

The wall screen was from this day's flea markets finds. I cut it in half, painted it, gold leaf markered it, added flocked scrapbook paper, etc. Doll hanger got the gold leaf marker treatment too. SO EXCITED that the hanger reads, "Francie". When things like this happen, I'd be utterly remiss to NOT do the patented Happy Baby Clap™.

This table will back up to the couch, but wanted to show you the cameo button that becomes a framed picture in this scale. The vase is made from jewelry findings, beads, a ribbon rose, and plastic leaves from a fake oregano plant.

The knives on the side were glued to a metal picture hanger, covering up the "teeth". I won't include the blood in the exhibit, but I had to put it in the photos!

"Someone" will be fulling wool roving in a washtub in one of the scenes. So: washtub and washboard were a gift to me, augmented them with fake pearls and iridescent beads and a bit of roving.

Popcorn tubs -- polymer clay in toothpaste caps. Learned how to make these and the meat from watching YouTube tutorials.

Anatomically-incorrect ants (only 4 legs instead of 6 -- tsk, tsk) are about the same size as carpenter ants. These are French ants, so I've decided they are AUNTS: Tante Amelie, Tante Brigitte, Tante Celine, Tante Dominique, Tante Emmanuelle, and Tante Frederique. There was a Tante Giselle, but she broke in three pieces.

I've shown the felted mushrooms on this blog before (who knew when I made them they'd be used for this project?), but the thing I want to show you is something I DIDN'T make: these mossy stones, found at the dollar store... for... a... dollar. They're GREAT -- lightweight, and capable of having stuff poked into them, like these T-pins here.

I wanted to show 2 finger puppets that I didn't make especially for the PCM exhibit, but that I had to tinker with in order to get them to cooperate.

I had to figure out a way to get Little Boy Blue's baritone horn into his hands, and since the horn is waaaay heavier than he is, had to come up with a plan so that he wouldn't topple over. So: stitched the horn into his hands, and created a bale of "hay" (wood blocks breaded with straw clippings) that has a post onto which he fits. Done.

Lindsey Woolsey is another puppet I'd made previously, but since she NEEDED to be playing a sax, I made her a neck strap, which got hooked to the sax via a jump ring (glued to the sax). Stitched her legs around the instrument with a gold metallic thread to blend in. I cannot describe in words how tickled I am that a Fair-Isle-sweater-wearin' sheep playin' the sax will be part of this display, since I played tenor sax in my high school marching band, and have worn a few Fair Isles in my day. (P.S.: This sax may not be accurate, but goshdarnit, her hand positioning is!)

Two bucks for a metal Tonka fire truck is a STEAL... and to think I almost didn't ask how much it was! So, so happy about this purchase.

This coffee pot joins my other mini splatterware. (OK, it's really "spatterware", but "splatterware" is heaps funnier.) The vendor guy came down from $1. "SEE HOW EASY I AM?" he boomed. "YEAH, JUST LIKE SUNDAY MORNING, AND IT IS -- SUNDAY MORNING!", I replied in an extra-loud voice because I need attention, too.

This vendor told me that she used a nautical theme to decorate her Christmas tree one year. This year she's doing a sports theme. "I like doing themes", she said. OH HONEY, I UNDERSTAND.

It's not always easy to be camouflaged when you're wearing a tall red cone for a hat, but they teach you coping skills in boot camp.

I dig gnomes and am inspired by uniforms of all kinds, so HAD to make these military gnomes that will be featured in the exhibit I'll be doing for Providence Children's Museum next month.

The G.I. Gnomes' hats were influenced by those of the Red Berets, but with a gnome twist, of course. All their uniforms were made by hacking up G.I. Joe and doll clothes. I use deconstructed doll clothes a lot in my work, as the weight is thin enough, and the patterns are the right scale. (Your tip for the day!)

Ranzfoodle looks like my friend Jim. If Jim had white hair. And was 4" tall.

Both Cobbwyn and Wimwinkle got dogtags that were made by snipping away at thin metal tiles whose intended purpose is embellishing scrapbooks/altered books.

I can't tell you how many eyeball auditions these guys had before I landed on the right choice. WIth gnomes, it's a fine line between "cute" and "creepy leering old guy", and that all happens in the eyes.

Doll furniture = $5, the vendor (who called out to me today, "HEY, DOLL LADY!" -- better or worse than being called "Dollface"?) gave me a good deal -- I've bought stuff from him before. He even said, "Pick something else out for that price." Nice.

The babies were from another vendor who has my number. "You collect babies, don't you?" What don't I collect? I have plans for these and other babies I've bought. Will have to wait till after the museum exhibition is done. Speaking of which, the posts (top left in photo) will probably be called into service very soon for this project, even though I want to use them as the cornerstone for a place called "Balustrade Park".

Got the 2 star patches for $1. I like using patches to gussy up boring sketch/notebook covers. I've showed you the Girl Scout patches and the B before on these pages, but the 8 and 3 were from high school. I was supposed to sew them on my marching band jacket and never did. Whoops. Guess it's kinda late to do that now.

Yarn balls = Wet felted wool balls with yarn "couched" onto them. Two pins become knitting needles. I glued the balls in place, because when left to their own devices, they like to hop out and roll away. Which is funny and naughty, BUT. . .

In my small town, there is a section called "Little Paris", so, SPOILER ALERT: there will be a picnic scene! Ice bucket was a flea market find; champagne was a party store find -- they're candles made by Wilton. (Your Tip for the Day: party stores, dollar stores and the like are great places to hunt for miniatures!)

The grapes, brie and ice cubes were were made using polymer clay. The grapes received embellishments of curled floral wire and leaves cut from... fake leaves. (Didn't see that one comin', didja?)